Larry Dale Lee

Lee's family filed a negligence case against Bridge Information Systems in April 2001. According to the lawsuit, BridgeNews had not responded to a policy that had established a set of procedures to follow if a reporter was not heard of after 24 hours. The time between Lee filing his last story and the time of death and discovery of his body were beyond the 24-hour-time period. BridgeNews denied any responsibility. In October 2001, Reuters bought Bridge Information Systems after the company had already filed bankruptcy.

Lee had been working on a story about the Guatemala presidential election. He filed his last story for BridgeNews and his murder at 10:30 p.m. on 26 December 1999. He sent his last email shortly after midnight on 27 December. On 28 December, a friend came to check on him in his Zone 1 neighborhood, 13th floor apartment, and when Lee did not answer his door, the friend asked a janitor to check on him, and Lee was discovered dead. Police found Lee naked and his body slashed in his Guatemala City apartment. Lee had been stabbed in the back, throat and multiple times on the side. The autopsy established the time of death to be on 28 December.

In 1999, Larry Lee became the last of 37 journalists killed that year. And between Larry Lee's murder in 1999 and summer 2001, eight Americans were killed in Guatemala.

In August 1998, Lee took a job as the correspondent for BridgeNews in Guatemala. At the time, BridgeNews was the second largest Financial news agency behind Reuters and it had reporters in about 100 countries. He was employed by BridgeNews at the time of his murder but he told friends he was in the process of selling his possessions and leaving Guatemala City for Mexico City and leaving journalism for a career in non-profit social services sector.

In 1990, Roy Aarons, an editor came out publicly at a conference of editors and went on to found the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association (NLGJA) in order ensure safe work environments for those who are members, promote respectful coverage and support gay and lesbian journalists in their professional pursuits.

Lee started his journalism career working for his home town newspaper, The Prospect-News, in Doniphan, Missouri, and then he worked at The Webb City Sentinel while working on his graduate degree in journalism until August 1986. He was an intern in 1987 at the Knoxville News-Sentinel, Knoxville, and he later returned to the newspaper as a copy editor and staff reporter and worked there continuously between 1989 and 1994. Lee's career took him to writing for newspapers in Tennessee, Arkansas, Texas, and Florida. During this period, he was employed as a journalist by the Southwest Times Record, Fort Smith, Arkansas; and then for a series of E. W. Scripps Company newspapers, including The Memphis Commercial Appeal, Memphis, Tennessee; El Paso Herald-Post, El Paso, Texas; San Antonio Express-News, San Antonio, Texas; and The Stuart News in Stuart, Florida.

Larry Lee was born in Rockford, Illinois, United States, and raised in Doniphan, Missouri. He graduated top of his class from Doniphan High School in 1976. Lee attended Emmanuel Baptist Church in his home town of Doniphan. Family, friends and co-workers say that Lee had a strong interest in politics and social issues. He first graduated from the University of Arkansas, and then in the 1980s, he attended the University of Missouri, where he earned his graduate degree in journalism in 1987. He became fluent in Spanish. While working in Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1993, Lee revealed he was gay, but he did not inform his family.

Larry Dale Lee, (16 October 1958 – 28 December 1999) was an American financial and economic journalist for BridgeNews who was found stabbed to death in his apartment in Guatemala City, Guatemala.